


The Round Kick of Love

by Spoon_Killer97



Series: Malec Week 2018 [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Sports, Best Friends, Falling In Love, Fighter!Alec Lightwood, Fighter!Magnus Bane, Friends to Lovers, M/M, MMA fighters, Malec Week 2018, Panic Attacks, Recovery, Sports, sport!au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-06 06:54:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15189245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoon_Killer97/pseuds/Spoon_Killer97
Summary: Day 1:Sport!AUAfter Alec is defeated at one of the most important fights he ever had, his life turns upside down making him abandon his life’s passion. But after another twisted event from life, Alec will have to get back at the ring and fight for himself again.Beside him in that journey will be his siblings, and mom and his lifetime best friend, Magnus. And at some point along the way, Alec is going to start feeling things for his fiend, he’s never felt before; can he get back to his old self and finally recover? And can he have the love of Magnus “The Warlock” Bane?





	The Round Kick of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I know that I still have a fic to finish, and I promise I will, but I also wanted to participate in the Malec Week from this year too. So, this has to be written before finishing the other.
> 
> So, the topic is Sport!AU so I chose MMA because I started training it some months ago and I really like this sport; also this Malec Week, apart from the challenge of writing about each day’s plot, I’m going to explore different types of love, or better, ways to fall in love, so for this first day is going to be: From friends to lovers.
> 
> I’m not completely happy with how this fic turned out. I wasn’t planing to make it so dense but as I started adding things to the plot it became a much more dense fic than I expected. I’m going trough a personal crisis right now and I didn’t expected to put myself in the writing but I realized I couldn’t help it, so this first chapter is not that interesting in my opinion and, again, it’s kind of dense, so let me know what you think or if I’m right, and this fic it’s not doing well.
> 
> Also, a round kick is a movement in MMA and other sports, it’s meant to hit the face with a lot of strength and your foot.
> 
> Sorry for the long note, thank you for reading.
> 
> WARNING!: PANIC ATTACK AND MENTIONS OF IT; IF IT’S TRIGGERING, BE CAREFUL.

The lights were bright inside the room. The noise of the crowd was loud and constant; "Alec, Alec!" screamed half of it. "Sebastian, Sebastian!" Claimed the other half. The smell of sweat invaded the whole place; not only from the two fighters but from the cheerful crowd too.

The black of the octagon’s fence covered the fighters peripheral vision; and the panting from the both of them fulfilled their ears.

Alec’s body was sending several pain alarms to his brain; his chest hurt from the continuous punching; there was pain coming from his abs from a knee strike that left him without air some minutes ago; his legs hurt in several parts from the kicks given and taken.

This fight had lasted longer than it should. His fingers were familiarly sore from the gripping of the gloves and the continuous punching; there was definitely a bruise on the side of his body and he was worried one of his ribs had moved out of place with one of the kicks Sebastian gave him.

His face was the worst part, it hurt in several parts and he could feel the inflammation on his cheeks; he’d stopped seeing from his left eye a couple of rounds ago because of how big and bad it was; he could taste blood coming from his gums and definitely he had a broken lip.

Though Sebastian wasn’t much better; Alec could see the several bruises over his body and he kept shaking one of his arms in pain thanks to one of Alec’s famous straight arm bars. He didn’t had a swollen eye, but he had a very bad bleeding lip, eyebrow and definitely a broken nose that got darker by the minute.

But the fight had lasted too long, Alec kept blocking and blocking Sebastian’s blows as the other man seem to be in a killer mode and able to ignore the pain he must have been feeling too. The more Alec hit him, the more aggressive he seemed to turn; Alec was trying his best but he realized he wasn’t going to win this fight.

It was the last match to win the championship; Alec had made his way one fight after the other and he only had to defeat Sebastian to win the belt, and the name, and the fame.

But it wasn’t happening; Sebastian made a blow to his face that Alec could block, but it was only a distraction for the punch he threw immediately after to his gut. The hit left him breathless again and made his body fold slightly; Sebastian took that chance and gave him a hard kick on the lower side of his leg making him fall. 

Alec could barely break the fall; he started feeling an excruciating pain coming from the leg his opponent just kicked. Something was wrong, it wasn’t supposed to hurt like that. But Alec couldn’t fathom in what was wrong because the next thing he knew, was that Sebastian was on him. His right gloved-hand raised up. He gave Alec a dangerous smirk that actually made him scared.

Then he threw he last side hook. It hit Alec’s left cheek very hard. The last thing he heard was “knockout!” And the start of Sebastian’s fans cheering before everything went black.

***************************

**1 year later**

“Jab… two… Jab,” Alec said with the pads on his hands as Magnus punched: left, right, left. “One… One… two.” Magnus changed and punched: left, left, right.

“Shouldn’t you be training too?” Luke, their coach, said half-jokingly as he walked by. Alec smiled and the two fighters made a pause and Magnus went to drink water.

After Sebastian knocked him out a year ago, Alec woke up in the hospital with a severe headache, pain all over his body and a calf muscle tear due to Sebastian’s kick and wrong movement of his leg.

It took 15 days and a lot of pain for him to recover from the lesion. But after it, the doctor say he wouldn’t be able to make any type of exercise during the next three months and with a high possibility of not recovering completely. That was devastating for Alec, being an MMA fighter was his life, literally, he lived from that and it was the only thing he considered himself good at.

Despite the heartache and the loss he felt over that news, he went to physiotherapy as the doctor ordered and put a lot of effort in having his leg back. With the therapy and the doctor’s recommendations, Alec was able to go back in three months and a half, but Luke still didn’t let him get into big fights or the spotlight just yet.

Unfortunately for Alec, Sebastian didn’t got enough with taking the victory from his hands and giving him and injury that could’ve left him without his sport; he had to tarnish his reputation too. In the months Alec used to recover, the information about him being gay got out to the media by an “anonymous source.”

Jace, his adoptive brother, and Isabelle, his sister, were the only ones who knew about his secret. With that dirty move, the rest of the world knew. Alec went through hell at that time, his parents, the media, his reputation, the popular opinion. Many supported him but most of them said: “it’s fine that his gay, but he shouldn’t be an MMA fighter.” Or “it’s okay for him, but that affects his career.” Or “it’s totally cool but…”

Everyone had a “but” to say that showed him they really didn’t supported him. His father was so angry he said awful things to Alec, and he would’ve done more if it wasn’t for his siblings and his mother’s intervention. She was one of the few that took it well; she didn’t understood much of it and she had a lot of stereotypes and prejudices thanks to society, but she tried very hard to erase them for her son’s sake.

Despite all of that, Alec recovered and went back to train and look for fights when his leg was okay and the media had forgot about the whole “Alec “The Shadowhunter” Lightwood was gay.”

It also helped that he had a really supportive team, his coach, Luke Garroway who always encouraged him to keep going; his mother and siblings who were all the time by his side; everyone at Idris, the gym where he trained; but mostly, his best friend, Magnus “The Warlock” Bane.

They’ve met when Alec was 16 and Magnus 17, they had just started training and Luke organized a junior fighting event to recruit more kids. He was building his name as a trainer and many children came to participate. Magnus and Alec fought against each other; it was their first fight ever. At first they didn’t like each other because both had a desire to win but after the fight, they started talking and have been friends since then.

Magnus was there when he lost that fight, he was there when Alec woke up at the hospital; and when Sebastian released the news that he was gay. He was always there for Alec and he couldn’t feel more thankful and lucky for that.

So with all the support Alec got out of the darkest times he ever had. He trained again and then he was back at the octagon… Except that… He wasn’t.

Luke organized a fight for him to go back in the game, it wasn’t that big, but it was big enough. Alec had been ready for the fight, he felt like he could win this. But the second he stepped inside the ring, he saw white.

Alec felt like he couldn’t breathe, his chest hurt and the air was coming out of his lungs in loud puffs… He was having a panic attack in the middle of the octagon while having flashbacks of all the pain Sebastian caused him.

That was it; the drop that filled the cup. Alec had to be dragged out of the ring by Magnus and Isabelle and hadn’t went back to it since then.

Alec had abandoned fighting with great pain. He didn’t take any fights and started going to Idris only to keep his muscles warm and not to forget his moves or to help the others train; specially Magnus.

His best friend hasn’t stopped, he was very motivated and got fights and trained for the both of them. Alec was more than proud of him and was more than happy of helping him with his training. But being out of the ring, meant that Alec was feeling useless; and so much more so he got into mental therapy to feel better about himself.

He also had to get a job in a library because not fighting meant no money. His life turned upside down for a single fight but Alec tried to move forward; and now Luke teased him so he would go back to training, but Alec just couldn’t.

“You know he’s right, darling,” Magnus said gently as he drank water.

“And you know that as much as I like, I can’t,” Alec said gently too. “Besides, I like to help you and give you some tips, you are the best fighter I know.”

Magnus smiled. He loved that from Alec: his blunt honestly; he was his best friend in the world and though Alec thank him every day for all the support he’s given him; Magnus was more than thankful for the support Alec has given him through all their time together.

“Thank you, Alexander, but that’s a coincidence, you are the best fighter I know.” Alec smiled back at him, blushing.

Magnus was always like that, telling him compliments and just making his days better every day.

“Anyway,” Alec said. “Want to go and have lunch, we can come back to train.”

“I’ll love that, but shouldn’t you be at work?”

“Not today, one of my co-workers is covering my shift at the library because he needs to have free the day after tomorrow so he exchanged shifts with me.”

“Oh, okay, then let me put on some descent clothes and we’ll go having lunch.”

Alec nodded and went to shower and change too.

After lunch they went back to the gym. They were like a rest and a balm for each other, always together, always supporting each other.

***************************

The next day Alec was at the library when he received a call from an unknown number. He moved to a place where he could answer and then picked up the phone.

“Hello?” He said to the phone.

“Hi, is this Alexander Lightwood’s phone?” Said a young female voice at the other side of the phone.

“Yes, but is just Alec. Who is this?” Alec answered.

“My name is Theresa Gray. Me and my husbands are looking for a new fighter we can sponsor. I don’t know if you heard of us?”

Tessa Gray and her two husbands, Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs, were one of the biggest athletes’ sponsors in the business. Being a part of their “family” as they like to call it, was a privilege a few had but a lot wanted. After Alec quitted fighting he lost all of his sponsors and monetary helpers, and now to his surprise, he was receiving a call from the best sponsoring sharks out there.

“Of course I have, you have the most famous sponsoring company for us. The question is, why are you calling me?”

“Well, as I was saying we need a new face for our family,” Tessa said with a giggle. “And we’ve been watching videos of your fights and all. I know that since the injury Sebastian left you with, and what happened with “The Mole” you haven’t been exactly active; but we’ve been looking for a fighter like you: with the conviction of a lion and a gentle heart.”

“Miss Gray, it is really kind of you, and thank you for all the compliments, but as you said, I haven’t been active; in fact I quitted fighting. I don’t know if you’re aware, but I have panic attacks every time I step in the octagon, so that doesn’t make me suitable for fighting or, even less, for being sponsored.”

“I understand, and please call me Tessa; but Alec, as a former athlete, I know what is like to be out of the place you belong. I know that there is a way of getting a solution for your attacks but you’ll have to be willing to go back to the ring. Wherever you’re working now, I dare say that you don’t belong; I’ve seen you fight, Alec, and your place is inside that octagon punching guys.”

Alec couldn’t help but smile; Tessa’s security and trust in him was actually really contagious. He hasn’t thought about going back for a while; actually, he didn’t even knew if he still got panic attacks; but the perspective of going back after all that time, was very scary.

“Look, let’s make a deal,” Tessa said because of the long silence. “This is my phone number, I’ll give you a week to think about it, and after that time you tell me your decision. There’s no pressure and there’s not going to be if you come back, we know you’ll have to train and warm up again before any fight. Deal?”

“Okay,” Alec said. “I’ll give you a call in a week. Thank you, Miss… I mean, Tessa. Thank you, Tessa.”

With that they said their goodbyes and hung up. When Alec got back to his place, his old boss looked at him.

“Everything okay, kid?” He asked. Alec shook his head.

“I mean, yeah, but I just got an offer to go back to my old life.”

“Well, as much as you are the best employee I’ve ever had, I think your place is out there. You’re a fighter right?” Alec nodded. “Yup, a library is too quiet for you, son.”

Alec smiled and tried to resume his work with Theresa’s proposal inside his head.

***************************

The next night Alec was in the gym with Jace and Magnus and he told them about Tessa’s proposal. They were completely thrilled and were advising Alec to take it.

“I don’t now, guys; I’m not prepared and I don’t even know if I can step inside a ring anymore.”

“But, darling,” Magnus said. “Don’t you miss this life? Don’t you miss the octagon and the fighting?”

“Of course I do,” Alec answered. “Angel, there’s nothing I miss more; the adrenaline, the lights. I even miss having another sweaty body making my muscles hurt. This is my life, being inside a ring is my thing.”

When Alec focused again, he realized he was looking at the floor, when he rised his gaze, Magnus was giving him a look he never gave him before. Alec couldn’t read his expression but he felt like his best friend was reading inside his soul.

Without knowing why, Alec felt his heart stammering harder and faster against his chest; and he felt his cheeks blushing. He couldn’t pull his eyes away from Magnus, he didn’t understand what was happening with him.

“Wh-What?” Alec asked a little breathless. Magnus shook his head as if getting out of a trance.

“You just,” Magnus didn’t know what just happened; the way Alec was talking, how he seem to recover the glow he lost when he quitted fighting, in those beautiful eyes; it left him breathless for a moment. He never felt something like that towards his best friend and it was really confusing. “Sorry, darling; it’s just that you look so passionate when you talk about what you like.”

There was an awkward silence until Jace cleared his throat.

“Anyway,” he said holding back a knowing smirk. “I really think you should take the offer, Alec; it’s a one-time opportunity.”

Alec sighed but before he could answer, Magnus intervened.

“Whatever,” he said looking straight into Alec’s eyes. “In the end it’s your choice, darling. Just know, that whatever you decide, we will be there.”

The fighter felt his heart jumping again and he smiled at his best friend, felling better.

“He’s right,” Jace interrupted again. “We are always here for you, bro.” Alec smiled at his brother too, before they all resumed their training.

***************************

A week later, the last day arrived. Alec had to call Tessa to tell her his answer. He was ready to do it; he had been thinking about it for a whole week and in the end the same answer always came to mind: Alec wasn't ready to go back, he didn't knew if he could ever step inside a ring again and the last thing he needed right now was to disappoint Tessa and her husbands and create a worse reputation for himself.

Apart from that, he and Magnus had so much more of those strange “moments” in the whole week. They stood there staring at each other for a long time, they said more compliments to each other; Alec’s heart beat faster at certain things his friend did. He couldn’t understand if his own vulnerability was doing something to his relationship with Magnus; and Magnus was trying very hard to ignore all the things that Alec was starting to make him feel.

So, in the end, the decision was made; or so Alec thought, because just as he was about to call Miss. Grey, his phone rang showing his mother's number on the screen.

"Mom?" Alec said to the phone when he answered.

"Hi, sweetheart," his mother answered and her voice sounded sore and cracked, as if she was or had been crying. Alec's internal alarms started ringing immediately. "How are you?"

"Mom, you’re crying, what's going on? Did my father did something?"

"No! No, darling, of course not. It's just that... Alec we're at the hospital, with your little brother."

Alec felt as if the world started going in slow motion. He felt his heart beating faster and his breath caught up inside his throat. He waited for his mother to stop the silence she currently was in and explain why they were there.

"Alexander," she said as a cry came out of her mouth and her voice failed. "Your brother is really sick..."

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: [SpoonKiller03](https://twitter.com/SpoonKiller03)  
> Tumblr: [A BLOG...](http://spoonkiller03.tumblr.com)


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